If we are to believe some historians, there were no more ruffianly lot of thieves and cut-throats than the Border Reivers of the 16th Century. This is taking a rather prim view of our past. Even so, as a descendant of one of the more active of the Scottish variety – the Elliots of Liddesdale – perhaps I ought to have had some misgivings in venturing so far into Northumberland today. Yet I feel very much among friends and I regard it as a great privilege to be invited to take part in this Commemoration of Flodden and help keep alive this memorial to the courage of our turbulent ancestors. Indeed, I agree wholeheartedly with Sir Walter Scott whose imaginations was fired by a visit to this pat of Northumberland. He wrote “To add to my satisfaction we are amidst places renowned by feats of former days; each hill is crowned with a tower or camp or cairn; and in no situation can you be near more fields of battle – Flodden, Otterburn and Chevy Chase, Ford Castle, Chillingham Castle, Coupland Castle and many another scene of blood are within the compass of a forenoon’s side. However, Scott remained a realist when viewing the field of Flodden and the military tactics of James IV – “Never was an affair more completely bungled than that day’s work was”. The battle has since been the subject of much careful study by historians, but the verdict remains the same. What should have been a victory for the Scots was turned into defeat by impatience and over-confidence. In this fact lies much of the sadness of Flodden. A great and noble army was thrown away by its commander, King James IV, a gallant Prince but a poor general. Certainly no event in the whole history of Scotland has made a deeper or more lasting impression on the minds of people than the Battle of Flodden. Jean Elliot’s haunting lines of “The Flowers of the Forest” written 250 years later expressed then and express today the feelings and sentiments of generation after generation of Scottish people. On the fact of it Flodden was just another of those border battles which had been fought in nearly every generation living on the English-Scottish frontier for 200 years not to mention many other forays and encounters so what distinguishes Flodden from other pitched battles between the Scots and the English.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 15:33:36 +0000